Worship
Sermon Archive
Sunday December 6, 2009
11:00 am - Saint Thomas Church
Preacher: Fr Mead
Luke 3:1-6
Stop the Presses
In the Name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. Amen.
Saint Luke begins the Gospel today with a dramatic drum-roll:¹ In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene [that covers the Roman empire, and now for the Jewish religious administration…], in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas…end of drum roll with a cymbal crash – The word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness.
Readers of Saint Luke met John the Baptist in the Gospel’s first chapter, when the Angel Gabriel announced the birth of this extraordinary prophet to his father-to-be Zechariah, an old priest with a barren wife, Elizabeth. This child, said the angel to Zechariah, would go before the Lord as a herald “in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.” (Lk 1:5-18) Though he and his wife, both of priestly families, were righteous and devout, Zechariah staggered at the news, asking, “How shall I know this?” Fittingly, Gabriel struck the priest speechless, and he remained dumb until the birth of his child. Here also there was a drum-roll and cymbal crash; it was the moment Zechariah confirmed in writing the name given first by the angel and then by Elizabeth – “His name is John” – and the crowd marveled, as Zechariah prophesied concerning his son.
Zechariah had been struck dumb for nine months. So also, the prophets of Israel had been silent for 500 years, ever since the last Hebrew prophet, Malachi. And Malachi’s last, spine-tingling words were these: “Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children, and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the land with a curse.” (Mal 4:5-6) Here ends the Canon of the Hebrew Prophets, half a millennium before Jesus Christ.
There is good reason for these evangelistic drum-rolls. It is the fullness of time. The world had the benefits of the Pax Romana. The ancient People of God, having lost their national kingdom, languishing under first Greek, later Roman rule, were in heightened Messianic expectation. It was time. John the Baptist is the Messiah’s herald, God’s time-keeper and alarm. He is the voice crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
What, specifically, is involved? It was a “baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” The best translation is that John preached a “conversion-baptism” for the forgiveness of sins. The baptism was a visible immersion or washing in the water of the Jordan River. That was obvious enough, an outward and visible sign. The inward and spiritual grace – conversion, or repentance, refers to the Evangelist’s Greek word, metanoia. Meta-noia: transformation, or renewal, of the mind or consciousness.² As the Apostle says in his letter to the Romans (12:2), “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your minds.” An entire change of attitude is involved. That is the message of today’s Gospel. God’s judgment, says John, is coming. God’s Messiah has arrived. His Kingdom is at hand. I am preparing the way for him.
The drama starts inwardly, spiritually. The Kingdom of God, if it is anywhere, is within us. It cannot begin; we cannot be part of it, unless it begins here, in me. How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given! The first move from inside to outside is close at home, and the result is a big deal: The hearts of the parents are turned toward the children. And, the hearts of the children are turned towards the parents.
What is going on in our families? How do we talk to one another? Even more, do we listen to one another? Or for that matter, how do we regard one another in the family of the Church? In Holy Baptism we promise to “respect the dignity of every human being.” I have noticed that young people are startled when they discover that an older person listens, listens without prejudice or censure. For young people, I suspect, feel that many older people think they have nothing to learn from the young. The young are surprised, sometimes delighted, when they see otherwise. The heart of the parent is turned toward the child.
Now put the shoe on the other foot: How do the young, or even those of us in high middle age, regard the elderly? I have noticed that older people are moved, often to tears, when they discover that a young person listens to them and notices; listens with care, with the sense that what they are hearing is valuable. For older people, I know, very often feel that they are on society’s rubbish heap, useless, in the way, best kept out of the way. Many old people feel unwanted, burdensome, and sometimes they feel they might as well just die. That’s a dangerous spot for anyone to be in. But the elderly receive a new lease on life when they realize that someone really has noticed, seen, heard, and cared about them. The heart of the child is turned toward the parent.
God sent John the Baptist, old Elijah’s successor, to bring about this heart-turning, this repentance, lest the Lord come and smite the land with a curse. Actually, the curse is here already, when the hearts of the parents are turned away from, or hardened towards, the children, and the hearts of the children are turned away from, or hardened towards, the parents. Such a situation is a house of sorrow and bitterness, a land blighted and cursed. That is what the Lord Christ has come to remove. John the Baptist has announced it. “When the Lord again the captivity of Sion: then were we like unto them that dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter: and our tongue with joy.”³ Stay tuned. There’s more from the prophet next Sunday. It’s a good way to get ready for Christmas.
In the Name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. Amen.
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¹Luke Timothy Johnson, Sacra Pagina series, Luke, p. 67. Johnson’s phrase: “chronological drum-roll.”
²Luke Timothy Johnson, op.cit, p. 64.
³Psalm 126, sung for today's Mass.